The Nigeria Police Force has asked Bukky Shonibare, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Foundation for Investigative Journalism (FIJ), to produce Fisayo Soyombo, Executive Director and Editor-in-Chief of FIJ.
This call follows FIJ’s explosive investigative report, which shed light on various irregularities in the Nigerian customs service, in which notable names such as IBD Dende were mentioned. Many saw the police summons as a direct response to these eye-opening revelations.
Sharing his first encounter with the police in Abuja, Shonibare made it clear that Soyombo was willing to cooperate and emphasized that he was not hiding from the authorities.
During the interrogation, the police investigator insisted on speaking directly to Soyombo, prompting Shonibare to clear up any misunderstandings about his availability.
“The investigator closed his iPad, put his hands on the table and said, ‘Oh, we need to talk to you fisayo. You need to produce fisayo.’ So I had to clarify that fisayo did not run away; It’s not like they invited him and he didn’t come,” she explained.
Shonibare shed light on the police’s efforts to foster a partnership like the one with another non-profit organisation. Still, she stood firm, emphasizing that FIJ’s sole focus is on investigative journalism and publishing stories rather than engaging in joint efforts with law enforcement.
Despite the challenges of questioning, Shonibare remained calm and reiterated FIJ’s commitment to investigative journalism.
“He asked why FIJ is not like any other specific nonprofit organization. The deputy director said he is a friend of this non-profit organization. He said they would do research and give the information to the police. ‘So why do we publish our work?’ he asks. ‘Why don’t we bring some findings to them and resolve things amicably?‘”, Shonibare recounted.
“I told him that FIJ is the Foundation for Investigative Journalism. That’s the work we do. We are not just another friendly nonprofit bringing them stories. We don’t work that way. Our job is to publish stories,” she repeated.
